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THE CLARK 6 LONGLEY CO., Pmmrmms and Cnshavkhs. Cm.caoo. 



■**» J%r a<ir jfht tAt Ac 



EVERY MERCHANT 




Who advertises has trou- 
ble in keeping his adver- 
tising space filled with new, 
bright, original and success- 
ful advertisements. 

The American Advertiser 



Is an eight-page monthly WE D0N ' T WANT THE earth. 

paper, published expressly 
to save merchants time and 
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tising, ^^g^g^^g 

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SUBSCRIPTION PRICE $2.00 A YEAR, 

with electrotypes of these two advertising cuts as a premium, 
prepaid. 

A. C. CLARK, Publisher, 




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CHICAGO. 



Hr 



PRACTICAL TURKEY RAISING. 



TURKEYS FOR MARKET 



■AND — 



_L KJ 



RKEYS FOR PROFIT. 



BY 



^ \ — — " 

THE MOST EXPERIENCED TURKEY RAISER IN AMERICA. 

Written Expressly for Those who are Interested in 
Turkey Raising and Wish to Make it Profitable. 

COMPILED BY R. B. MITCHELL, 

author of the 

SUMMIT LAWN POULTRY BOOKS. 



tOHt 



m 



PRICE. - 25 OlEZEsTTi 

( APR 11 1887 

CHICAGO : 
R. B. Mitchell, 69 Dearborn Street, 

1887. 
Copyright, 1887, by R. B. Mitchell. 



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INTRODUCTORY. 



In offering a new book to the public it is customary 
for the author to make a few introductory remarks, 
and I am anxious to follow the time-honored custom; 
but for the life of me I don't know what to say— except 
that I write in answer to a demand for practical 
information concerning ?*aising turkeys for market, 
and hope that my work will fill the " long-felc want. ' 

FAXXr FIELD. 



TURKEYS FOR MARKET. 



BY FANNY FIELD. 



CHAPTER I. 



Will it Pay? 

Of course the croakers will tell you that turkey-raising won't 
pay, they tried it once and they think they know all about it. 
In the first place the old turkeys wouldn't lay anywhere within 
a half mile of the buildings, but would hide their nests away off 
in the woods and in all sorts of out-of-the-way places, and it 
took more time to hunt up the nests and run after the eggs than 
the eggs were worth. Then not more than half the eggs set 
would hatch, and not more than one-fourth of the young turks 
that did get into this "cold and unfeeling world" ever lived to 
grow up; and finally those that did graduate into Thanksgiving 
turkeys didn't bring enough to pay for the food it took to grow 
them. Oh, I know the whole story that the croakers have to tell; 
have heard it so often that I know it by heart; and besides, if I 
must tell the ungilded truth, that is about the way my turkey 
venture turned out the first season. But because of a few discour- 
agements and dead turkeys, I didn't give up beat, and declare 
that turkey-raising wouldn't pay. 

I started out to raise turkeys and to make them 'pay, and after 
I got the "hang" of the turkey's disposition and constitution, 
understood their mental, moral and physical needs, I did make 
them pay. And now, from my own experience, I can truth- 
fully say that when the work is thoroughly done, and the busi- 
ness wisely managed, there is no branch of poultry farming that 
pays so well in proportion to the investment of time, labor and 
capital as raising turkeys for market. 

Not a Business For Everybody. 

But right here let me say that turkey-raising is not a business 
for everybody. All farmers are not so situated that they can 
raise turkeys without interfering with the comfort and rights of 



Turkeys for Market. 



their neighbors. Chickens can be raised almost anywhere. The 
owner of a small village lot can manage to raise a few chickens 
without trespassing on his neighbors' rights, for chickens can 
be raised in limited quarters. But turkeys must have range — 
lots of it, and you have no right to allow them to range over 
your neighbors' gardens and fields; therefore consider the size 
of your farm and the "lay of your land" before you go into the 
business of turkey-raising. 

Turkey Raising for Women. 

Farmers' wives and daughters who desire to do some extra 
work that will pay in money, and who live where the turkeys 
can have the necessary amount of range, might raise a flock of 
turkeys every year that would bring them in a clear profit of any- 
where from fifty to two or three hundred dollars, according to 
the size of the flock, and it wouldn't seriously interfere with 
the other work which usually falls to the lot of women on the 
farm. I know whereof I speak, for one year I raised a flock of 
150 turkeys besides doing all the house-work and sewing for a 
family of five. Those turkeys brought almost $400, fully two- 
thirds of which was clear profit, and I never earned the same 
amount any easier. 

How Much Profit per Head. 

That depends upon locality, price of food, and upon the 
quality of your market turkeys after they are grown. In New 
England, New York state, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, tur- 
keys can be grown for about one-third of the price they will 
bring when marketed. It does not cost us over Si per head to 
grow and market turkeys that will weigh from twelve to fifteen 
pounds apiece at Thanksgiving time; and in nearly all eastern 
cities and large villages prime Thanksgiving turkeys will sell 
readily at prices ranging from twenty to twenty-five cents per 
pound, dressed weight. In the West prices are lower, but there 
grain is cheaper, so that the western farmers can make as much 
in proportion to the cost of raising as eastern turkey growers. 

No Danger of Overdoing The Business. 

Don't be afraid that everybody will "rush into the business 
and overstock the market, so that turkeys won't sell at any price. " 
I have seen a good many "times, " but I have never yet seen a 



Tt'EKEYS FOR MARKET. 



time when first-clats Thanksgiving turkeys would not sell at 
good-paying prices, and I never expect to see such a time— at 
least I don't expect it to get along here for a hundred years yet, 
and by that time you and I will be old enough to retire from 
the turkey business. Thanksgiving is an American institution, 
and the turkey is the Thanksgiving bird, and every true Ameri- 
can will have a turkey for his Thanksgiving dinner if he has to 
live on cold potatoes and dried herrings for a montn afterwards. 
And, besides, Thanksgiving is not the only time when market 
turkeys are in demand. From early fall until late spring the 
city markets call for turkeys, and as the supply of first-class tur- 
kevs has never yet been equal to the demand, I hardly think it 
will pay to lose any sleep through fear of not being able to sell 
our turkeys after we have grown them. 

Not Hard to Raise. 

It is iust as easy to raise turkevs as it is to raise chickens- 
after you know how. For the first few weeks of their lives tur- 
kevs require the very best of care, perhaps rather more than chick- 
ens of the same age, but after they are fully feathered and have 
thrown out the red on their heads, turkeys reauire less care, 
and are less liable to disease than chickens. 

Capital To Begin With. 

It requires but very little cash capital to commence the busi- 
ness of raising turkeys for market. Houses and yards are not 
needed Since turkeys must be raised on farms, and farmers 
generally raise grain, etc., the only cash outlay to begin with 
will be for breeding-stock. Later, after the young turkeys are 
hatched, you will need coops and rims, and if you raise a large 
number of turkeys, you will also need a turkey shed. 

Number To Begin With. 

If vou have had no experience in turkey-raising you should 
not start with a large flock expecting to raise several hundred 
the first year. It is better to begin in a email way and work up. 
From a breeding-stock of five hens and one gobbler you can 
raise— i e. if you have what is termed "good luck — from 75 
to 100 turkeys, and that will be quite as many as the inexperi- 
enced turkev-raiser ought to attempt the first year, 



Turkeys for Market 



How To Keep up The Breeding-Stock. 

Each year keep a certain number of the very best females to take 
the place of the five-year-old hens that must be killed; that will 
give you a breeding-stock of one, two, three and four-year-old 
hens. These future breeders should be selected early in the fall 
before you commence fattening for market, and should be 
marked so that they, will not be sold or killed " by mistake." 
Generally speaking it is better to buy a gobbler of some reliable 
breeder than it is to keep one of your own raising, as turkeys 
show the evil effects of close in-breeding sooner than any other 
fowl stock. Some of the most prominent breeders of Bronze 
turkeys send west every two or three years and get a wild gob- 
bler to use in their breeding-yards; consequently their turkeys 
are kept up to a high standard in plumage, size and hardiness. 
A gobbler from the yards of a breeder who has taken so much 
trouble to improve his stock will cost more than one from ' 'most 
anybody, " but it will be cheaper in the end. 

It is often difficult to buy a two-year-old gobbler, so it is better 
to buy a yearling the year before you send the old one to pot, 
and shut him up away from the hens during the mating season 
the first year. 

Mark Your Turkeys. 

Sometimes turkeys disappear mysteriously in a night, and no 
one except the thief knows whither they go, and he won't tell. 
We once lost a pair that way — a pair of fine young White Hol- 
lands about four months old. At night-fall we had them; in 
the morning they were not — at least they were not anywhere on 
our premises. Several weeks later we saw that pair in a flock of 
mongrel turkeys on a farm several miles from our place. We 
felt sure those were our turkeys, but we couldn't " prove prop- 
erty, " and so had to stand the loss. 

At another time our Bronze turkeys got mixed up with a 
flock of the same kind belonging to a neighbor, and such a time 
as we had fl sorting them out " again. Our feelings were some- 
what mixed too before the matter was finally settled; indeed it 
was never settled satisfactorily, for I always felt sure that the 
neighbor had one of my best hens, and he felt equally sure that 
he raised that hen, and that I had one of his young gobblers. 

Now since such "accidents" will happen, I say: mark every 
turkey that you raise as soon as it is fully feathered, and every 
one that you buy as soon as it comes into your possession; then 



Turkeys for Market. 



you will be able to claim and hold your own wherever you find 
them. After our unfortunate experience with " mixed flocks, " 
we marked all our turkeys, and our "trade-mark" came handy 
and saved trouble and hard feelings more than once. No, we 
didn't put rings on their legs or in their ears; we just took a 
punch and cut a small circular hole in the web of the left foot; 
the neighbor with whom we had the misunderstanding marked 
his turkeys on the right foot, and another turkey-raiser in the 
neighborhood marked his turkeys with a hole in each foot. 
These punches are made for the purpose of marking poultry, 
and cost thirty cents a pair. Keep a record of your method of 
marking; it may be handy to have in case of dispute. 

Get Good Breeding-Stock. 

Several of your chances of success in raising turkeys depend 
upon the parent stock. The parent stock must be of good size, 
strong, perfectly healthy and mature. "Like begets like," 
and you cannot raise vigorous, healthy turkeys from stock that 
is weak, unhealthy or immature. 

Age of Breeding-Stock. 

Yearling turkeys are not so desirable for breeding -stock as 
birds that are older ; but when you can get no others, select 
some of the earliest and best of the previous season's hatch. 
The turkey hens may be kept four or five years for breeders, but 
we have not deemed it best to keep a gobbler after the fourth 
year. 

Number of Hens to One Gobbler. 

One gobbler may be mated to any number of hens, from one 
to a dozen. One of my old neighbors who used to be noted as a 
successful turkey-raiser says that he has kept as many as sixteen 
hens to one gobbler, and the eggs hatched well. 



8 Turkeys por Market. 



CHAPTER II. 



The " Best Breed." 

The Standard recognizes six different varieties of turkeys : the 
Bronze, White, Black, Buff, Slate and Narragansett. All of these 
originated from the wild turkey of North America. 

The main color of the Bronze turkey gobbler is a rich, deep 
bronze that looks dark, almost black, in the shade, but when the 
fowl is in the clear sunlight the feathers on the back and breast 
glisten like polished gold. Each feather on the back terminates 
in a narrow black band. The wing feathers are evenly marked with 
bars of white or gray, and when the wings are closed the wing 
cornets show as a wide bronze band. The tail feathers are black, 
marked across with narrow bars of light brown, each feather 
ending with a wide black band edged with white or gray. The 
legs are large and strong, dark in young birds, but near a pink 
or flesh- color in old ones. The hen closely resembles the gobbler, 
except that the plumage is not so showy and brilliant. 

Turkeys of the Bronze variety grow to an enormous size, well- 
grown males weighing from eighteen to twenty-two pounds alive 
at six months, and females of the same age from ten to fourteen 
pounds. They do not reach full maturity until the third year, 
when the gobblers weigh anywhere from thirty to forty pounds, 
sometimes more, and the hens from eighteen to twenty-five pounds. 

White Turkeys, 

called by breeders the "White Holland," are, as the name 
indicates, clear white, and the rich scarlet of the head and the 
jet black beards of the males, contrasting so beautifully against 
the snow-white plumage, render birds of this variety objects of 
attraction wherever seen. The White turkeys do not often grow 
so large as the Bronze, but it is the fault of the breeders. With 
a little more pains and skill in breeding this beautiful variety, 
they would soon equal the Bronze in weight, as they now do in 
all other qualities that go to make up a first-class market turkey. 

The Narragansetts 

are called " gray," but they are really of a veritable black, each 
feather ending in a wide, light-gray band. They are very popular 
in Southern New England, where they are quite extensively raised 



Turkeys for Market. 



for the city markets. When pure bred, the Narragansetts are 
not so large as the Bronze, but when crossed with the Bronze the 
cross-bred birds rival the pure Bronze in size, and are splendid 
market birds. 

Other Breeds. 

The Buff, Black and Slate turkeys are smaller than the other 
varieties named, and the names sufficiently indicate the color. 
They are good market birds, what there is of them. 

Which is Really the Best Breed? 

Well, the Bronze turkeys are at present the favorites with the 
majority of those who raise turkeys for market, and breeders of 
this variety will tell you that the Bronze is in every way superior 
to all other varieties of the turkey family, but the plain truth of 
the matter is that there is not much choice except in size. I have 
found that a fifteen-pound (dressed) W^hite or Narragansett turkey 
would sell just as quick and bring just as much as a Bronze of 
the same weight. 

Sometimes private customers will take a notion that a white 
turkey is better than a dark one, and if you have such customers 
it would be well to humor their notions, especially if they are 
willing to pay you for doing it. But it is not often that private 
customers care what colored feathers their Thanksgiving turkey 
wore in life. If he is young, big and fat, they are satisfied. 

Common Turkeys. 

Finally, upon this subject of breed, let me say that the com- 
mon turkeys, which the Standard does not recognize at all, are 
not a bad sort, and if you have or can get some good, healthy 
common turkey hens, mate them with a pure-bred gobbler of 
one of the larger varieties, and you need not fear the result. 

Now, don't misunderstand me on this point of the "best 
breed." I do not say, or think, that common turkeys are " good 
enough." Nothing of the kind. What I mean is, that if you 
cannot afford to buy a thoroughbred flock to start with, do the 
next best thing, — which is to get the thoroughbred male and 
mate him with the best common turkey hens you can get. 

But in " counting the cost " of the thoroughbred flock to start 
with, you should take into consideration the fact that if you 



10 Turkeys for Market. 



keep pure stock only, you will probably have a chance to dis 
pose of some of the best of those that you raise for considerably 
more than the market price. 

But when buying a gobbler to mate with common hens, do 
not make the mistake of getting the biggest one you can find ; 
get one of medium size for the first year. A large gobbler, one 
that would be a fit mate for hens of his own breed, would be 
liable to break down the smaller common turkey hens. 



CHAPTER III. 
Care of Breeding-Stock. 

Through the winter, breeding -stock should not be over-fed or 
under-fed; one extreme is as bad as the other. Feed enough to 
keep in good condition, without laying on very much fat. Feed 
corn and other grain, with an occasional meal of cooked food, 
just to whet their appetites. 

After the first of February commence feeding ground beef 
scraps, or meat of some kind, three or four times a week, and the 
hens will commence laying about the time danger of freezing the 
eggs is over. When the winters are mild the meat diet may be 
commenced earlier in the season. You must use some common 
sense along with the meat, and adapt directions to suit your 
climate. 

Keep the Breeding-Stock Tame. 

il But," exclaims some croaker, " you can't tame turkeys." Yes, 
you can, if you only know how. I have had turkeys so tame that 
they would eat from my hand and allow me to stroke their glossy 
backs. There is no secret about the taming process; the only 
magic used was unvarying gentleness and kindness in all our 
dealings with them. If you never scream and shout at your tur- 
keys; never stone and club them; never allow the children, dogs 
or hired man to chase, tease, worry and frighten them, they will 
grow up as tame as chickens. What is the use of having them 
tame? Don't you see? Tame turkeys are more manageable 
than those that are "as wild as hawks;'' and by using a little 
strategy you can induce them to make their nests somewhere 



Turkeys for Market. 11 



near the farm buildings. A good deal of your success in turkey - 
raising depends upon knowing where the turkeys lay, and upon 
having them lay in safe places. 

About Nests. 

Of course the turkey wants to hide her nest ; the desire is born 
with her, inherited from countless generations of wild ancestors ; 
but all the same you can make your turkeys lay about where you 
want them to, if you go to work the right way. One turkey -raiser 
whom I know, keeps a close watch over his turkeys, and when he 
sees one peering about in all sorts of odd corners, evidently look- 
ing for a place for a nest, he drives her into a barn or some other 
building and keeps her shut up until after she has laid; then he 
lets her out, and she generally goes back and continues to lay 
there. That plan works well in his case, but it would not be 
practicable in all cases . I think a better way is to provide suit- 
able nests out of doors, near the buildings. Don't make "nice" 
nests; turkeys have a dislike for nice nests, that appear to have 
been prepared for their accommodation. Take a few staves put 
of one side of an old barrel, turn it open side down in some fence- 
corner, throw a lot of dead leaves in the barrel and some brush 
over and around it, and you will have a capital nest for a turkey. 
In other fence -corners, in old brush-piles, in thick clumps of 
bushes, and in any places that are a little secluded, but still near 
the buildings, make other nests of bottomless boxes with one side 
knocked off, or of even a few old boards leaned against the fence 
or an old stump — anything, everything that comes handy, only 
taking care to have the "fixture" so that the nest will be on the 
ground and the whole thing look just as if it happened there. 
Nine times out of ten the turkey will, if reasonably tame, take to 
these nests- without once suspecting that you had a hand, in 
them. 

About the Gobbler. 

Most turkey breeders claim that a single service of the cock 
turkey is sufficient to fertilize all the eggs that the hen turkey 
will lay during the season ; but we always let the gobbler run 
with the hens until they commence sitting ; then we took him 
away and shut him in a yard where he couldn't botner the sitting 
turkeys. You see we once lost a nest of eggs that were half 



12 TUKKBYS FOB MaEKBT. 



hatched, just because the gobbler went fooling around the hen 
while she was on the nest. 



Care of the Eggs. 

The eggs should not be allowed to accumulate in the nests, 
especially in the fore part of the season, while there is danger 
of chilling. Remove them as fast as laid, but leave two or three 
nest-eggs, of some kind, otherwise the turkey may forsake the 
nest. Keep the eggs in the house, in some place where there 
will be no danger of chilling, but do not keep them where they 
will keep icarm. A cool, dry cellar is probably the best place, as 
the temperature is even ; but if you have no cellar, put them in 
the next best place ; the main point is to keep them cool without 
chilling them. They should be turned carefully every other day 
until wanted for hatching. 

Setting the Eggs. 

The first eggs laid should be set under hens. Those laid 
later may be given to the turkeys when they show a desire to sit. 
Whenever practicable, set the eggs on the ground, but it won't 
do early in the season ; then the nests of the sitters must be un- 
der sheltei. Prepare the nests just as you would for hens' eggs, 
by putting an inverted sod or shovelful of earth in the bottom of 
the nest-box and covering it with fine hay or cut straw ur chaff. 
As a preventive against lice, sprinkle sulphur, snuff or tobacco 
among the nesting and into the hen's feathers. Do not crowd 
too many eggs into the nest ; from seven to nine, according to 
the size of the hen, is enough. Early in the season we never 
allow a large hen more than seven eggs. After the turkey eggs 
have been under the hen a week it is a good plan to put in two 
or three hen's eggs. We have always followed the plan of rais- 
ing a few chickens with each brood of turkeys ; for when raised 
together turkeys and chickens are not apt to quarrel when grown 
up, and the chickens will generally teach the turkeys to " come 
home to roost.'' During the last three weeks of incubation the 
eggs should be lightly sprinkled with tepid water when the hen 
is off the nest. When the nest is on the ground out of doors, 
this sprinkling is, of course, unnecessary. After the weather gets 
warm and the turkey has laid a dozen or fifteen eggs, the eggs 
may be left in the nest as laid, and when the turkey gets ready 



Turkeys for Market. L3 



she will sit, and she will hatch every egg, too. If she takes a 
notion to sit before she has a nest full of eggs, you should fill 
up the nest with some of the eggs that have been taken away, 
or with hen's eggs, for a turkey will cover twenty eggs or more. 

Care of Sitting Turkeys. 

After the turkeys are duly fitted out with a nestful of eggs 
and have settled down to business, let them alone. Don't heed 
the nonsense that has been written about taking the turkey from 
the nest every day for food and water. Turkeys have good sense, 
and when they are hungiy will come off for food and driDk. All 
you have to do is to watch and see that they have plenty of corn and 
water when they do come off. Generally they will not leave the 
nest oftener than once in three days, though I have had turkeys 
that came off regularly every other day. 

Hatching in an Incubator. 

Turkeys can be hatched in an incubator and raised wholly by 
artificial means, but the novice in turkey- raising should not at- 
tempt it. Learn the " old-fashioned way " first. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Care While Hatching. 

While the young turkeys are pecking their way out of their 
shells into a "cold and unfeeling world," it will not be necessary 
for you to poke around under the hen every two or three hours to 
see "how many she has hatched." Let her alone. Don't inter- 
fere in any way. 

Just After Hatching. 

Newly -hatched turkeys are very delicate, and the less hand 
ling and fussing you give them during the first twenty-four hours 
of their existence, the better your chances of raising them. 
Whenever practicable, leave them undisturbed in the nest until 



14 Turkeys for Market. 



the mother -hen exhibits a desire to leave for "fresh fields and 
pastures new;" then remove the whole family to the coop, which 
should be in readiness to receive them. In moving, handle the 
poults as little and as carefully as possible. When the mother is 
a turkey-hen and has her nest out-of-doors, you must "look a 
little out " and coop her in season to prevent her from wandering 
off with her brood. If you find her with a nestful of young 
turkeys in the morning, it would be well to coop her about dark 
the same day; for if left out through the night, she would prob- 
ably leave her nest the next morning before you were ready to 
attend to her. 

The Coop 

must be clean and dry and of fair size. Most coops are too 
small, and many young chicks and turkeys are tramped to death 
by the mother-hens just because they have not room enough to 
"turn around in." The coop should have a board floor covered 
with sand or with equally dry earth; sand is the best. Make the 
front of the coop so that it can be closed ud at night and in 
stormy weather. 

Food. 

When the turkeys are about twenty-four hours old, they will 
be strong on their feet and will begin to look about for food; this 
is the time for their first meal, which shouldn't be meal at all, but 
a mixture of stale wheat- bread moistened with milk, "Dutch 
cheese," and hard-boiled eggs crumbled fine. The "cheese" is 
made by warming thick sour milk until the whey separates from 
the curd, and then draining off the whey through a coth. When 
the whey is all out, the curd will be just dry enough to crumble 
easily, and it is one of the best things that can be fed to turkey- 
poults. Remember that you must not scald the milk, for scald- 
ing makes the curd tough and stringy and unfit for food. The 
egg must be boiled some twenty minutes. Boil an egg five 
minutes, and the white will be tough; boil it twenty minutes or 
so, and the whole egg can be crumbled and easily mixed with the 
other food. Season ( the food lightly with salt and black pepper, 
and after the first day or two a little lettuce or onion- tops, chopped 
fine, may be mixed in. Keep the poults on this fare for about 
two weeks, and feed regularly five times a day. After the first 
two days give sweet milk to drink. The third week, commence 
feeding cooked cornmeal and other cooked food. Don't give a 



Turkeys for Market. 15 



full feed of meal at first, but increase the amount of new food 
each day until at four or five weeks they may be kept on any 
kind of cooked food that you would give young chickens. The 
best way to cook meal is to wet it up with milk or water, add a 
" pinch " of salt and soda, and bake until done. The inside of 
the loaf should be crumbled and fed without wetting; the outside, 
or crust, only moistened enough to be crumbly. 

Never feed raw meal to young turkeys. Keep them on 
cooked food until they are some ten weeks old, and never feed 
sour or sloppy food. Have all the food fresh and sweet, and 
only just moist enough to hold together. Don't leave food 
around. Feed each time only so much as will be eaten up clean. 
Don't season the food too highly with pepper; use no more than 
you would for your own eating. Give a little bonemeal — say a 
tablespoonf ul to a pint of feed — about three times a week. After 
the first two weeks give all the sour milk they will drink, if you 
can get it. It is "meat and drink" both, and when they have 
the milk no other meat food will be needed except what they get 
in the shape of insects. But if you are obliged to give only water 
for drink, feed a little cooked meat or egg once a day until the 
poults are eight or ten weeks old. 

Some people to whom I have given this advice about feeding 
young turkeys declare that such food is too expensive, too much 
bother to prepare, and they feel quite sure that turkeys raised 
on such food would cost more than they would be worth after 
they were raised. I know that my advice reads as if it would 
be a good deal of work to prepare the food, but really it takes 
but a little time ; and as for the expense, you must bear in 
mind that for the first four weeks the poults eat but little at a 
time, so that a little of the egg and wheat-bread goes a good 
ways. One egg is enough to mix with food sufficient to last a 
dozen young turkeys all day ; and in most families crusts and 
crumbs enough to feed several broods of turkeys are thrown into 
the swill barrel every day. Of course turkeys can be raised 
without the boiled eggs, " Dutch cheese," and milk to drink, but 
I recommend such food because it is best, because it is "at 
hand," plenty on almost any farm. When such food cannot be 
had, feed the bread-crumbs for a day or two, and then feed bread 
made after the following recipe: One quart of cornmeal, one 
pint of shorts, two teaspoonfuls of baking-powder, teaspoonful 
of salt, a little pepper and a teacupful of finely-minced fresh meat 
of any kind. Add water enough to make a stiff dough, and 
bake thoroughly. After the poults begin to forage for insects 



16 Turkeys for Market. 



the meat may be left out. A loaf of this bread will keep good 
for three days, at least. 

Imperial Egg Food for Young Turkeys. 

I don't believe in dosing turkeys, or chicks, or any thing with 
medicines to "keep them well ; " proper food and care will keep 
poultry well, if anything will. But the " Imperial Egg Food " 
is not a medicine, and I know, from experience, that it " agrees " 
with young turkeys wonderfully well. Turkeys make a rapid 
growth of feathers while young, and, if they are not fully 
supplied with the necessary material, they are liable to droop 
and die without any apparent cause. The Imperial Egg Food 
seems to supply a " long-felt want " in the way of something to 
promote early feathering of turkey-poults, and it sustains their 
strength during the critical period of " shooting the red " on 
their heads. A teaspoonful every other day is sufficient for a 
brood of twelve or fifteen young turkeys. Some turkey-raisers 
to whom I recommended this food objected on the score of 
expense ; but let me remind all that it costs no more than the 
cayenne which is feed so liberally. When the Egg Food is 
used the pepper may be omitted from the food. 



CHAPTER V. 



Care of Turkeys Until Fully Feathered. 

Young turkeys must be kept dry, clean and comfortable until 
after they are fully feathered and have thrown out the red on 
their heads. Exposure to cold and wet, tramping about in the 
rain, or in the grass when it is wet with rain or dew, and con- 
finement in damp, filthy coops, will kill off your little turks at 
an alarming and discouraging rate. To keep the poults within 
bounds when the grass is wet, make a small run of wire netting, 
or else make a pen by placing wide boards on edge and fasten- 
ing them in position by stakes driven into the ground. The 
boards should be about eighteen inches wide, and for a dozen 
or fifteen young turkeys the pen should enclose some fifteen 
square feet. 



Turkeys for Market. 17 



For the first three days after the poults leave the shell, or 
until all appear strong and lively, keep them confined to the 
limits of the coop and pen ; then, on pleasant days, after the 
sun has dried the grass, give the hen and her brood liberty until 
nightfall. A hen mother will bring her family back to the coop 
at night, but for the first few nights you will have to drive or 
coax the turkey mother home, else she will sit down just where 
she happens to be, and she will get up in the morning and 
wander about in the wet grass without the slightest regard for 
the comfort and health of her children. After she has been 
driven home a few times, she will probably come of her own 
free will, especially if you keep your turke3^s tame and always 
give them a supper after they get to the coop. 

Shed For Turkeys. 

For the first two or three years after we commenced raising 
turkeys we had a good deal of trouble in getting our early 
hatched young turkeys safely through long spells of damp, rainy 
weather. Sometimes we didn't get them all through. We had 
tight, roomy coops, and in wet weather kept the little turkeys 
shut in, and they would get along all right for two or three 
days, but when the "spell of weather" lasted for four or five 
days, or a week, they would droop and die off at a rate which 
made turkey -raising seem a vain mockery. 

One year a spell of rain^ weather came along about the mid- 
dle of May, when we had about seventy young turkeys nearty 
three weeks old. It lasted a whole week, and in spite of all our 
trouble nearly half our little flock died. Probably we should 
have lost many more if we had not on the morning of the fifth 
day moved the survivors into the barn, and given them the free- 
dom of the dry floor. I have since learned that other turkey- 
raisers are troubled the same way. When the weather is favor- 
able the little turkeys thrive and grow, but when the long spells 
of rainy weather come they die off at a rapid and discouraging 
rate. 

Only a few days ago an Ohio farmer's wife wrote me con- 
cerning this very subject. She says : \' I have been very much 
interested in your turkey articles, and by faithfully following 
your directions in regard to care or breeding stock, care of 
eggs, making nests, etc., succeeded in hatching more turkeys 
this year than ever before. I think I should have raised nearly all 
had the weather been favorable; but when ti.e earliest broods 



18 Turkeys for Market. 



were about two weeks old, along came a whole week of damp 
weather, and before the sun shone again nearly two-thirds of 
my turkeys were gone. I kept them confined to the coops 
and runs, but everything was so damp that the tender little 
things just chilled, drooped and died. Now, what can I do to 
prevent my next turkey crop from going the same way should 
such a spell of weather come on while they are small? If I can 
manage that part of the business — get the young ones through 
such spells of weather — I believe I can make a success of the 
turkey business." 

When a farmer has but two or three broods of young tur- 
keys, he can move them into dry coops in the barn, woodshed, 
or anywhere where they can be kept dry until pleasant weather 
comes again ; but the turkey-raiser who proposes to raise two or 
three hundred turkeys will find one or more {i turkey sheds ' ; 
handy to have. 

We had them on our farm, and they paid expenses many times 
over. They were built twenty feet long, eight feet wide, seven 
feet high in front, four in rear ; rough-boarded up and down, 
cracks battened, and had good shingle roofs ; window in each 
end, and another window in the rolling door in front; floor of 
nearly a foot of dry gravel and sand. The mother hens were 
confined in coops placed along the back part of the shed, and 
the little turkeys had the freedom of the floor. On pleasant 
days, after the dew was off, the door was rolled back and hens 
and turks given liberty until night ; but rainy days the doors 
were kept dosed, and it was perfectly dry inside. The coops 
were moved often, the sand raked over, fresh sand thrown on, 
and the coops put back in place. 

In a shed like this we kept eight hens and their broods of 
ten or twelve turkeys apiece. After the turkeys were out of the 
way we used the sheds (except the one which the turkeys that 
were kept over occupied) through the winter as needed for other 
purposes. 



CHAPTER VI. 



After They are Fully Feathered 

and have thrown out the red on their heads, turkeys are very 
hardy and may be allowed free range in all sorts of weather; 
but they should always be at home at bed-time. If allowed to 
get in the habit of roosting away from the buildings, they will 



Turkeys for Market. 19 



sometimes, especially when insects are numerous, stay away in 
the fields for weeks at a time, and many of them will be appro- 
priated by some two-footed or four-footed night prowler. You 
can't spend time to drive the turkeys home every night ? Well, 
you won't have to. If they have been in the habit of coming 
home before they were weaned, they won't forget it afterwards 
unless you forget to find them. Turkeys that are accustomed 
to being fed at a certain place every evening will be there each 
evening as regularly as the cows come home. They may not be 
hungry, but they will come home from sheer force of habit, and 
if there is a roosting-place near the feeding-place they will go 
to bed there. 

More About Food. 

After they are old enough to be allowed free range, the amount 
of food given and the number of meals per day should be de- 
termined by the amount they can gather for themselves of in- 
sects, and plenty of light feed in the morning and another at 
night will be sufficient; and the evening feed need be only a 
few handfuls ; just enough to keep them in the habit of coming 
home. But one thing sure: if you want to have large turkeys 
at Thanksgiving time they must have enough to eat right along 
every day, and if they cannot find it for themselves you must 
provide it for them. Turkeys that are left to get along anyhow 
on just food enough to keep death off from the time they are 
weaned until a few months before market time, cannot then by 
a few days of extra feeding be transformed into first-class mar 
ket birds. Turkeys must be kept growing from the start, and 
if they do not come home at night with full crops, fill them full 
of corn, wheat or buckwheat. No danger of feeding a growing 
turkey that has full liberty too much; you can't do it. 

From the middle of September to the first of October begin 
issuing extra rations to your turkey flock. I don't mean that you 
are to begin to stuff them all they can eat four or five times a 
day, as will be necessary later, but give them a good breakfast of 
boiled potatoes, turnips, carrots, sweet apples, mixed with bran 
and cornmeal, "half-and-half," and at night give all they will eat 
up clean of corn and buckwheat. Twice a week add pulverized 
charcoal to the soft food, in the proportion of a heaping table- 
spoonful to every pint of feed; and after the supply of insect 
food fails give ground meat scraps daily in the same proportion. 

Now by soft food I don't mean a soft, wet, sloppy mess, but 
that mixed so that it will be dry and crumbly. Keep pure water 



20 Turkeys for Market. 



handy, and of course a supply of gravel should always be y. T here 
the fowls can help themselves. After the first killing frost, or 
real freeze, your turkeys cannot pick up food enough for them- 
selves to amount to anything, and you should at once increase the 
daily allowance of food; I do not mean that you are to feed more 
at a time, but that you should issue an extra ration at noon. This 
noon meal need not be a full feed, but just a lunch to "stay " 
their stomachs and keep them from roaming about so much. 

For the Thanksgiving Market. 

Some two weeks before Thanksgiving time separate from the 
rest of the flock all that you intend for the Thanksgiving market. 
This separation is necessary, because it is not desirable to fatten 
those that are to be kept over for' breeding-stock, or the late- 
hatched ones that are not yet large enough for market. Feeding 
the whole flock extra rations of fattening food is not only a waste 
of food but works injury to all that are not to be killed soon. 

But do not confine the Thanksgiving flock to small pens; 
turkeys that are shut up in small pens or coops seldom fatten as 
rapidly as those that have full liberty , in fact turkeys that are 
closely confined are more liable to lose flesh than to gain, no mat- 
ter how much food may be placed before them; at least that has 
been our experience. Twice we tried to fatten turkeys by keeping 
them in close confinement and allowing a liberal quantity of 
food; but although all food was perfectly fresh and wholesome, 
and the utmost cleanliness observed about the coop and feeding 
trays, those turkeys wouldn't eat half rations, and at the end of 
three weeks' confinement they weighed less than when shut up, 
while those that had full liberty devoured the food and took on 
fat at a rapid rate. After those experiments, when the time came 
round to fatten turkeys, we confined the other flock to a roomy 
yard and allowed full liberty to those we desired to fatten right 
off. And our fattening turkeys did not "wander all over crea- 
tion and run off their fat," as some of our advisers predicted 
they would; on the contrary, after we put them on full feed, they 
did not go many rods from their feeding and roosting places. 

Give the fattening turkeys all they can eat four times a day 
from the time when you commence full feeding until twenty - 
four hours before slaughtering time. The first three of the daily 
meals should be of cooked potatoes and corn meal, or of corn 
meal scalded with milk or water, and the last of whole corn with 



Turkeys for Market. 21 



an occasional feed of buckwheat for a change. Give the first 
meal as soon as possible after daylight, and the last just before 
dark. Feed each time all they will eat up clean, but do not leave 
food by them. Feed the charcoal once a day, and keep water or 
milk and a supply of gravel, where they can help themselves. 
Two weeks of such feeding will put turkeys that have been grow- 
ing and in good condition all along in the best possible condition 
for market. 

Killing and Dressing. 

After the turkeys are well -fattened they must be well-dressed 
in order to command the highest market price. No matter how 
big and fat a box of turkeys may be, if they are bruised and torn 
in dressing, or are not dressed in the style the market demands, 
they will not sell at top prices. Different markets have some 
different notions about dressing turkeys, and the only way for you 
to make sure of suiting your market is to write to the commis 
sion house to wl^ch you propose to ship your turkeys and get 
their directions for dressing and packing turkeys for their market; 
therefore it is not necessary for me to give more than a few gen- 
eral directions, or rather hints, about killing and dressing. 

Keep your turkeys without food for from twelve to sixteen 
hours before killing, especially if they are for the New York or 
any other market that prefers undrawn poultry. The reason for 
this is that a mass of undigested food soon becomes putrid and 
taints the whole carcass. Four years ago the city of New York 
passed an ordinance to the effect that no chickens or turkeys 
should be offered for sale in the city unless the crops were empty 
and shrunken close to their bodies. Any person offering turkeys 
with full crops would be liable to a fine of five dollars for each 
turkey, and the turkeys would be confiscated. For New England 
markets, and for nearly all markets outside of New York city, 
poultry must be drawn. In Boston it is against the law to offer 
undrawn poultry for sale, except spring chickens and spring 
ducks. 

If your market wants the heads left on the turkeys you must 
kill the birds by bleeding them through the mouth. Suspend 
the fowls by the feet, and with a narrow-bladed, very sharp 
knife, make a clean cut across the back of the roof of the 
mouth, just under the eye. But if your turkeys are to go to a 
market which objects to paying for useless weight, you can kill 
your turkeys by cutting the heads off. When you kill by 



22 Turkeys for Market. 



beheading, after the fowl is dressed turn down the skin of the 
neck, cut off a piece of the bone, draw the skin back in place so 
as to cover the end of the bone, tie and trim so as to present a 
neat appearance. 

Don't scald your turkeys ; prime dry-picked turkeys usually 
bring a higher price than the best scalded. The feathers will 
come off easily enough without scalding if you pick at once 
before they set. But if you do scald them don't scald the head, 
if that is to be left on ; the hot water injures the appearance of 
the comb and eyes — makes them look as if the fowl were sick 
when killed. Remove all pin-feathers carefully, and take care 
not to break, tear or bruise the skin ; such places soon turn dark 
and injure the looks of the fowl. Singe the fowl without 
smoking it. If the shanks and feet are dirty, wash them clean 
and wipe off any bloody spots that may be anywhere on the 
fowl. After they are dressed put them aside to cool, and they 
must be entirely cold, but not frozen, before they are packed for 
shipment. If packed before quite cold they will be almost sure 
to spoil. * 

Unless your turkeys are a pretty even lot it is better to pack 
the largest and best in one box, the medium size in another, and 
the small ones in a third. They will bring better prices thn 
if all sent in one package. Remember that a few good birds 
mixed in with a lot of inferior ones will not sell the lot at top 
prices ; but a few poor birds in with a lot of good ones will be 
liable to spoil the sale of the lot. 

If the weather is warm and " muggy " when it comes time to 
dress your turkeys for Thanksgiving market, and there are no in- 
dications of an immediate change, do not dress the turkeys unless 
they are to be sold near home. If to be sent to a distant market 
in unfavorable weather it is better to send them alive ; then 
they cannot spoil on the way. 

Save the Feathers. 

When dressing turkeys save the feathers. The body-feathers 
are worth but little, but the tail and some of the wing-feathers 
are used for making feather-dusters, and bring from 20 to 25 
cents a pound. And the large quills from the first joint of the 
wing, which have heretofore been considered worthless, are now 
manufactured into a kind of bone called " Featherbone," which 
is taking the place of whalebone in the manufacture of whips, 
corsets, etc. 



Turkeys for Market. £3 



CHAPTER VII. 



Late Hatched Turkeys. 

When we commenced raising turkeys I supposed that turkey 
hens did up all their laying for the whole year in the spring, for 
up to that time I had never heard of a turkey that laid two litters 
of eggs in the same season ; so when the turkeys had laid from 
25 to 35 eggs apiece, and those that were not sitting had been 
"broken up," I supposed that was the last of turkey eggs until 
the next season. That was in the latter part, of May. Along in 
the latter part of June, when the other turkeys were strutting 
about with families at their heels, we suspected from appearances 
that the two turkeys which had been broken up because we had not 
turkey eggs enough to go around, were laying somewhere, and a 
diligent search by the entire detective force of the farm revealed 
two nests (one containing 10 the other 12 eggs), in the brush at 
the far side of the orchard. "Well," said old Mrs. Sanderson, 
the only one in the neighborhood who pretended to know any- 
thing about the ways of turkeys, "you better break them up, take 
the eggs away before they begin to sit, for turkeys hatched in 
August won't grow to amount to anything." We took the eggs, 
but my conscience troubled me a little when I saw the robbed 
turkeys looking around their nests. We visited the nests every 
day for a week, but found no more turkey eggs there or anywhere 
else. "I guess those turkeys have given up the notion of raising 
families this year," I remarked as I fed the flock the evening 
after the seventh unsuccessful trip to the orchard lot. " Those 
turkeys" never said a wor pi, but picked up their corn and oats 
with an air of resignation that would have deceived a more 
suspicious mortal than myself. I thought no more about the 
matter until the first week in September, when one of those 
turkeys appeared near the barn with a family of thirteen little 
"moslems." A few days later the other came also among us with 
a family of eleven and an expression which said plainly, " don't 
you wish you had let us alone last June?" 

I consulted old Mrs. Sanderson again. "I'd kill 'em right off 
now and have done with it ; they'll never amount to anything — 
won't get feathers afore cold weather comes, and if they do, more 
as likely as not they'll all die afore spring." The "head of the 
family " advised me to follow Mrs. Sanderson's advice, but I 
couldn't make up my mind to have the little turks killed, so they 



24 Turkeys for Market. 



lived and grew, and grew. I never saw turkeys grow as those 
did. We fed and cared for them just as we did for the earlier 
ones, and by the time they were ten weeks old they were every bit 
as large and well -feathered as the earlier ones were at the same 
age. Having such a good start before cold weather they didn't 
stop growing when cold weather set in, but kept right on regard- 
less of the weather — i. e. they all kept on except three which 
died. Thelast week in February dressed turkeys sold at 20 cents 
a pound, and we at once dressed our late hatched birds and sent 
them to market. They averaged 12J lbs. apiece, dressed weight. 
" Well, I never," exclaimed old Mrs. Sanderson. 

Now the moral to this is : Turkeys hatched early enough in the 
fall to get well feathered up before cold, wet weather comes on, 
will, with plenty of food and care, grow right along and make 
good market birds for late winter and early spring. So don't 
worry for fear that your late-hatched turkeys will not " make a 
live " of it, but take care of them, and they will live and pay 
well for their living. But bear in mind that these late-hatched 
turkeys should not be kept for breeders. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Diseases of Turkeys. 

Turkeys are liable to attacks of chicken cholera, and the symp- 
toms are the same as in chickens. I consider it a waste of time and 
money to doctor cholera-sick turkeys. As soon as you notice the 
cholera symptoms kill the sick ones, and burn or bury the car- 
casses ; then thoroughly cleanse and disinfect the premises. Of 
course I don't mean your whole farm, but the places where your 
turkeys roost, where they are in the habit of loafing around, where 
the sick ones have left their droppings, and their feed-troughs 
and drinking-vessels. Spade up the ground and scatter lime 
freely, and scrub out the feed-troughs and drinking-vessels with a 
disinfecting fluid made by dissolving three pounds of copperas in 
five gallons of water and adding half a pint of crude carbolic 
acid. If your turkeys roost in a shed or house of any kind, white • 
wash it thoroughly, and then sprinkle this solution about freely 
every day until after the last trace of the disease has disappeared 
from the premises. 



Turkeys for Market. 25 



To counteract the effect of the cholera germs which the appar- 
ently well turkeys may have in their systems, add a few drops of 
carbolic acid to the drinking-water once a day, and give powdered 
charcoal in the food. Turkeys are queer critters, and will some- 
times refuse to drink the water that has been "doctored" with the 
acid, and in that case mix the acid with their soft food. After a 
week has passed without any new cases, the use of the acid may 
be discontinued. 

But if you want to try your hand at doctoring, separate the 
sick from the well, clean up as directed, and then treat the 
sick as follows . " When it is discovered that a bird refuses to 
eat and the discharges are copious and yellow, give a full-grown 
bird one-half of a blue pill the first day, and one a day for the 
next two or three days. I take a pinch of saffron and scald it 
in a little milk, and when it is cool give some of this with one- 
fourth of a teaspoonful of hypophosphite of soda and one asa- 
foetida pill. For a small bird one fourth of a blue pill is 
enough. Use the Douglas mixture in 'he drinking-water and 
keep them from the rest of the flock, where they will be sheltered 
from the storm. When they are recovering tney have a great 
appetite, but do not get over having these discharges for a week 
or so." This course of treatment is recommended by a Con- 
necticut turkey-raiser who claims to have cured several by it 
Turkevs are also liable to attacks of 



Roup, 

and when the roup gets a good hold of a turkey it is a hard 
disease to cure, but if taken in hand as soon as it makes its 
presence known, it can usually be cured. The first symptoms 
are about the same as those of a " cold in the head " in the 
human subject, and the hoarseness, sneezing, watery eyes, and 
rattling in the throat (and during spells of damp weather, or if 
roup is in your neighborhood, you should look out for these 
symptoms), give each patient a dessertspoonful of castor-oil at 
night and afterwards give the " German Roup Pills " according 
to directions, also give pulverized charcoal and Douglas mixture 
— a tablespoonful of each to a pint of food once a day until the 
turkeys are well again. This course of treatment will usually 
cure in a week , but if it does not, and the patients grow steadily 
worse, the best course is to kill them, for it is a waste of time 
and medicine to doctor a roupy turkey after the nostrils are 
clogged with offensive matter, the throat full, and the head 



26 Turkeys for Market. 



swollen to twice its natural size, as is usually the case in ad- 
vanced stages of the disease. Sometimes a long swelling will 
come under one or both eyes when the patient seems better in 
other respects ; and when this is the case the swelled place 
should be cut open, the matter pressed out, and the wound 
washed daily with carbolic soap-suds, or with castile soap suds, 
to which a few drops of carbolic acid have been added. After 
the wound has been cleaned apply a little of a mixture of sweet- 
oil and carbolic acid ; two drops of the acid to a teaspoonful of 
the oil is sufficient. The oil is healing and the acid disinfects 
and also keeps flies away. The turkey may recover if the 
swelling be unopened, but the eye under which the swelling 
happens to be will be a total wreck, and if both eyes are affected 
that way the turkey had better be dead. 

Lice. 

If you takfc proper precautions when you set the hens, and 
put the broods in clean coops, it is not likely that your little 
turks will be bothered with lice, but still you should always 
keep a look-out for their appearance. If young turkeys that 
seem all right when first hatched, begin to droop in a day or so, 
refuse to eat and act as if they were troubled with headache, at 
once examine the heads for lice. You will probably find them 
— three or four large ones half buried in the flesh. Remove the 
torments at once, and then rub the head with a mixture of 
sweet-oil and carbolic acid — one drop of the acid in a teaspoon- 
ful of oil. For the common chicken lice, which troubles turkeys 
as well as chickens, dust carbolic powder, or insect powder, well 
into the feathers of the mother hen and her brood. Do this just 
at night. Also mix some of the carbolic powder in the sand on 
the floor of the coop. Never use coal-oil, sulphur, or any mixture 
that contains either, for lice on young turkeys. Such remedies (?) 
generally kill the lice and turkeys together ; and when they do 
not kill the poults outright they often injure them very much. 
Sore eyes and blindness among young turkeys is often caused 
by the use of sulphur for lice. 

To Restore Chilled Turkeys. 

Should any of your young turkeys get thoroughly wet and 
chilled by being caught out in a sudden shower, don't fool away 
any time- waiting to see whether they will u get over it" or not, 
but take them at once to the house and keep them there unti 



Turkeys for Market. 2? 



warm, dry and lively. If any are so chilled that they seem 
almost lifeless, dip them into quite warm water clear up to their 
eyes, and hold them there until they protest by kicking ; then 
take them out, wipe with a soft cloth, and put in a warm 
place until they are quite dry. By this method we have restored 
turkeys that were apparently lifeless when brought to the house. 

Leg Weakness 

is sometimes caused by lack of bone-forming material in their 
food, and sometimes it is caused by inherited constitutional 
weakness. In the latter case there is no cure, but in the former 
give bonemeal in the food and Douglas mixture in the drink. 
Young turkeys that come from healthy stock, and have proper 
food, " seasoned " with Imperial Egg Food, are never troubled 
with leg weakness 

Constipation. 

Young turkeys are sometimes troubled with constipation, caused 
by too much concentrated food, lack of coarse sand or gravel to 
aid in digesting the food, and lack of green food. Give a half 
teaspoonful dose of castor oil, change diet, and furnish gravel 
and green food. Also give pulverized charcoal in the food two or 
three times a week. 

Diarrhea 

is caused by exposure to cold and wet, lack of gravel, and sour, 
uncooked food. Give a half teaspoonful dose of tincture of 
rhubarb at night, and the next morning a small pill, made of 
equal parts of cayenne, powdered chalk and rhubarb, wet up 
with camphor enough to mold into shape. Give these pills once 
or twice a day, according to the frequency of the discharges, until 
the patients are better. Feed cooked rice, stale bread, and give 
scalded milk to drink. Also give the charcoal in the food. Some 
of those thus treated will probably get well — i e. if you take 
them m hand in time ; but the majority will probably die, for 
after a young turkey's digestive organs get out of order he has a 
slim chance for his life. 

Prevention Better Than Cure. 

It is better and easier, as you will probably discover in time, to 
prevent disease among turkeys, than it is to cure them after they 



-> s Turkeys for Market. 



are down sick. And to prevent disease, breed only from healthy 
stock, keep your premises clean, and feed and care for your 
turkeys as I have directed m the preceding pages. 



CHAPTER IX. 



Turkeys as Incubators and Foster-mothers. 

I am frequently asked, whether it be true or not, if turkeys 
^an be taught to sit and hatch at any time of the year ; and also 
if a turkey that has not been sitting and hatching can be made 
to own and care for a troop of chickens or turkeys. 

Upon this subject Geyelin says: "At any time of the year, 
turkeys, whether broody or not, are taught to hatch in the follow- 
ing manner : Some addled eggs are emptied, then filled with 
plaster of Paris and placed in a nest, after which a turkey is 
brought from the yard and placed on the nest, which is then 
covered over with lattice. For the first forty -eight hours she will 
endeavor to escape, but soon becomes reconciled, when fresh eggs 
are substituted for the plaster ones. The turkeys will continue 
to hatch, without intermission, from three to six months, or even 
longer The turkeys are taken from the nests once a day to feed 
and water ; but after a while they cease self- feeding, when it is 
necessary to cram them. When a turkey has been hatching for 
some months and shows a disposition to leave off, a glassful of 
wine is given her in the evening, and a number of chicks sub- 
stituted for the eggs ; on waking up in the morning she takes 
kindly to them and leads them about, strutting amidst a troop 
of seventy to a hundred chickens with all the dignity of a drum- 
major. When a troop-leader is required that has not been hatch- 
ing, such as a capon or turkey, then it is usual to pluck some 
feathers from their breasts, give them a glass of wine, and 
whilst they are in a state of inebriation, place the chickens under 
them. When they get sober the next morning they feel that 
some sudden change has come over them, and as the denuded 
part is kept warm by the chickens, they take kindly to them." 

never treated any of our turkeys that way, and cannot say 
whether it works satisfactorily or not ; am inclined to think not. 



THE SUMMIT LAWN POULTRY BOOK, 

VOL. I. NOW READY FOR DELIVERY. 

PEIGE TWEIETT'Y'-IFZ^rJE CENTS. 
- See What it Contains. 



PAGE. 

Address, Be Particular About 35 

A Confused Gentleman 35 

Bantams, Golden Sebright 80 

Bantams, Japanese 78 

Bantams, Rose Comb, White - 98 

Bantams, Black Breasted Red G 81 

Beginners, To 9 

Bone Meal 95 

Bones and Shells Calcined 103 

Brooders - --- 61 

Brahmas, Dark 46-47 

Brahmas, Light .1 48 

Corn, Charred 104 

CornShellers .-. - 107 

Charcoal - 102 

Chickens 23-111 

Chickens, How to Feed Young 6-62 

Cholera 1. 7-12 

Cholera Preventive and Cure... 13-33 

Cochin Cock, Black 36 

oochin Hen, Black 37 

Cochin Cock, Buff 38 

Cochin Hen, Buff 39 

Cochins, Partridge.. ' 40-41 

Cochins, White 42 

Combs, To Keep from Freezing 14 

Correspondents, Lady 25 

Dotmniques, American 64 

Ducks, Pekin 67 

Egg Baskets. 67 

Eggs for Hatching... .. 5-23 

Egg, How to Get Free 6 

Eggs, How Hatching After Shipping..- 14 

Eggs in Sitting, How Many 24 

Eggs Gathered. 25 

Egg Room, Our. 28 

Eggs, Prices of 54 

Express Companies "... 35 

Exterior View of Poultry House 85 

Egg Testing for Incubator 105-111 

Eggs— How Many Will a Hen Lay in a 

Tear.? 1 113 

FactsWanted 2 

Farmers Wanting Cocks, etc.. 32 

Fowls, Health of 23 

Fowls, Orders for 25 

Fowls, Feeding the 28 

Fowls, Shipping^. ....6-41-100 

Fowls, Does It Pay to Keep 3 

Fowls, Best, for Farmers - 14 

Feed, Green 29 

Fowls, Prices of 55 

Grass 23 

Guarantee 4 

Hens Laying in Confinement 106 

Hamburgs, Black 92 

House for Rearing Young Chicks. 93 

Hatching-House 93 

Hamburgs, Silver-Spangled 62 

Hatching, Success in. 4 

Hens _ 41 

Hens, Not to Eat Eggs 51 

Houdans 76 

Incubator House .. 117-93 

Interior View of Poultry House 87 

Incubator, How to Run : 106 



PASE. 

Incubators HO 

Javas, Mottled 84 

Javas, Black 60 

Langshans - 74 

Layers, the Best 4 

Leghorns, Brown - — •- 52 

Leghorns, White .: 50 

Leghorns White, Rose Comb. 86 

Leghorns. Brown, Rose comb 88 

Layers, Best Winter 14 

Mills, Shell and Bone.... 65 

Night "Watchman 64 

Onion Tops for Fowls ... 7 

Opening for Poultry men 26 

Orders 3-22 

Oyster Shells 95 

Offer to Boys 104 

Poultry Book for 1884, Our 103 

Poultry House, Ground Plan 112 

Plymouth Rocks. Pure Bred. 8 

Plymouth Rocks, Extra 49 

Plymouth Rocks, White's... 56 

Plymouth Rocks, Pitkin's 58 

Plymouth Roc^is, Summit Lawn strain. 53 

Pin 32 

Polish, White-Crested, White.... 68 

Polish, White-Crested, Black 70 

Polish, Silver-Bearded 72 

Polish, Golden-Bearded 90 

Poultry Books 18-34 

Poultry is King 24 

Poultry-House, Economical 1 

Poultry-House, Our New.... 10-85-91 

Poultry-House, Well and Pump 14 

Poultry Jelly 95 

Poultry-Raising... . 3 

Poultry, To Those Interested in Choice. 2 

Poultry-House, Warm. .. 51 

Prizes at Poultry Shows 9 

Poultry vs. Beef 113 

Poultry-House, Night Scene 89 

Plymouth Rock, How Originated. Ill 

Poultry vs. Gold Mining ... 111 

Questions vs. Time 105 

Quails and the Farmer 63 

Rats in Poultry^ House. _ . . 15 

Roosts 31 

Roots. ... 29 

Roup. ... 13 

Roup, One Main Cause c 33 

Roof, to Cover 104 

Shipments . - 22 

Summit Lawn, How the >'ame Origi- 
nated 11 

Summit Lawn Poultry Yard., Plan of... 27 

Sunflower Seed, Russian 33 

Stock.. 3-23 

Spanish, White-Faced, Black. 44 

Thermometers -106 

Trios and Pairs, Facts About. ..102 

Tar Paper ... 34-95-104 

Turkeys, Bronze 94 

Varieties and Numbers 8 

Wyandottes — 66 

Wire Netting — 97 

Water Lime 104 



Address: SUMMIT I. AWN POULTRY CO,, Arlington Heights, Cook Co , 111 



GALVANIZED WIRE NETTING. 




This Netting is the best thing for poultry -runs and divisions 
in poultry-houses of anything known. It shows poultry to the 
best advantage, and gives a free circulation of air all through 
the house. It is very durable, and costs but little more than 
lumber. It is easily attached to posts and boards by small wire 
staples, and lasts a lifetime. The mesh is two inches. It varies 
in width from twelve to seventy- two inches. The forty- eight- 
inch is a desirable width. 



Each roll is 150 feet in length and from 1 to 6 feet in width. 

Price, per square foot, by the roll lc 

3 to 5 rolls ___90c per 100 square feet 

Less than roll, per square foot 2c 

Address — 

R. B. MITCHELL, 

69 Dearborn Street, Chicago, 111. 



MITCHELL'S MATERIAL FOR THE POULTRY-YARD 



GROUND AND CRUSHED OYSTER SHELLS. 

10- lb. packages, per Bb 5c 50- Jb. packages, per lb 4c 

25-5) " " 4^c I 100-Ib " " 3c 

BONE-MEAT, 



10- Bb. packages, per lb 6c 

25-Ib " *• 5c 



50- R) packages, per lb 4%c 

100- lb '• " 4c 



TAR-FETT PAPER, 

Put up in rolls of from 250 to 350 square feet, according to thickness. 
Price, per roll $2.00 

GALVANIZED-WIRE NETTING, 

In rolls 150 feet in length and from 1 to 6 feet in width. 

Price, per square foot, by the roll lc 

" " " " less than roll 2c 

3 to 5 rolls 90c per 100 square feet. 

RUSSIAN SUNFLOWER SEED, 

Package, by mail, prepaid 25c 

EGG BASKETS. 

To pack one or two sittings, per dozen $0 90 

" three to five " " 1 00 

POULTRY BOOKS, 

Any Book on Poultry mailed on receipt of publishers' price. 

POULTRY JELLY. 

Cures Scaly Legs and Frozen Combs. 
Put up in tin cans. Price, per can 60c 

JAPANESE EGG TESTERS, 

Each _- 50c 

Address — 

R. B. MITCHELL, 

69 ZDZE-A-IEfcZBOIR-ILsr STBBET, 

CHICAGO, ILL. 



THE SUMMIT LAWN POULTRY BOOK. 

VOL,, 3d NOW READY FOR DELIVERY. 

» SEE WHAT IT CONTAINS. 

Page, i Page. 



Advertisers, Our 77 

A Garden-of-Eden Rake 42 

Agents Wanted 74 

American Poultry 59-61 

American Dominiques .. 56 

An Office Episode 32 

Ancient Egyptian Poultry.. 21, 22 

Arlington Heights 43 

Bantams, Black-breasted Red Game 62 

Bantams, Golden Seabriglit .... 63 

Bantams, Japanese...- 58 

Best Fowls for Farmers. 75 

Bone-meal .. 71 

Brahmas, Dark 40 

Brahmas, Light 41 

Broilers 84 

Bronze Turkeys, Mammoth 67 

Business Law in Daily Use 23 

Capons and Caponizing 50, 31 

Caponizing 77 

Chicks, Why So Many Die. ..Si, 82 

Cholera 83 

Cholera, Preventive and Cure 75 

Cochins, Black......... 21, 25 

Cochins, Bu3 )% 27 

Cochins, Partridge 28 

Cochins, White ... 29 

Collect on Delivery. 9 

CombSjFrozen . .. 75 

Dominiques, American 56 

Ducks, Pekin 64 

Egg Baskets 72 

Eggs from Egypt 12 

Eggs, How to Boil ... 83 

Eggs, How Many in a Sitting ... 84 

Eggs, Price List of 68 

Eggs, Price of ... 9 

Eggs, Shipping 10 

EggTester 73 

English Poultry ri, 53 

Epigram 15 

Express Companies 10 

Fowls, Price List of 69 

Fowls, Shipping 10 

FrenchPoultry 46, 49 

Frozen Combs 75 

Game Bantams.... 62 

Golden Seabright Ban tarns 63 

Grass 74 

Hamburgs, Black. 44 

Hamburgs, Silver -Spangled 45 

Hens _. 75 

Houdans _. 57 

How We Commenced 7, 8 

How We Feed Young Chicks. 74 

Index to Advertisers 3 

Invitation to Visitors 76 

Important to Our Customers 9, 10 

Improved Poultry-House 79 

Japanese Bantams 58 

Japanese Egg Tester 73 

Javas, Black.... 51 

Javas, Mottled 50 

Ladies -43 

Langshans 55 

Leghorns, Brown 17 

Leghorns, White 16 

Leghorns, Rose -comb, Brown. 19 

Leghorns, Rose -comb, White ..18 



Address, 



Letters 77 

Lime 74 

Money Orders 9 

Nest-Boxes 1.. 72, 80 

Netting, Wire.. 70 

Onion Tops for Fowls 15 

Order Blanks 62 

Orders, Duplicating 10 

Orders, Making out 9 

Our Advertisers 74 

Oyster Shells 70 

Paper, Tar-felt 71 

Pekin Ducks... 64 

Pip s 74 

Plymouth Rocks 13 

Plymouth Rocks, Pure-bred 86 

Polish, White-Crested, White 33 

Polish, White-Crested, Black 34 

Polish, Silver-Bearded 35 

Polish, Golden-Bearded 36 

Poor Richard's Maxims 61 

Postage - - 10 

Postage, New Rates of 78 

Poultry, American . ...59, 61 

Poultry, Ancient Egyptian 21, 23 

Poultry Books 72 

Poultry Book, the Summit Lawn,1884.-. 85 

Poultry, Egyptian 21 

Poultry, English 52, 53 

Poultry, French 46, 49 

Poultry-House Improved... 79 

Poultry in Literature -11, 12 

Poultry Jelly 71 

Poultryman, The Successful 74 

Poultryman, The Unsuccessful 74 

Poultry, Modern Egyptian 37, 39 

Poultry Raiser, The.- 49 

Poultry- Yard, Supplies for , 70, 73 

Poultry, Warmthfor 75 

Poultry, What Work Shall I Get On?... 85 

Price Listof Eggs 68 

PriceListof Fowls... 69 

Red Game Bantams 62 

Remittances 9 

Report for 1884 93 

Room Enough at the Top 76 

Roosts 76 

Roots 77 

Roup 76 

Russian Sunflower Seeds 71 

Seeds, Russian Sunflower 71 

Shakespeare, W., some Notes by 87, 92 

Shipping Eggs 10 

Shipping Fowls 10 

Spanish, White-faced, Black. 54 

Sunflower Seeds 71 

Supplies for the Poultry- Yard -70, 73 

Tar-felt Paper 71 

Testimonials 87, 92 

The Poultry Raiser 49 

To Our Patrons for 1885-S6 5, 6 

Turkeys and Turkey-Raising 65, 66 

Turkeys, Mammoth Bronze 67 

Ventilation 14, 15 

Visitors, Invitation to 7G 

Warmth for Poultry 76 

What Our Patrons Say 87, 92 

Wire Netting 70 

Wvandottes 20 



SUMMIT LAWN POULTRY CO., Arlington Heights, Cook Co., IU, 



JAPANESE EGG-TESTER. 





To test the egg, hold it before the opening, 
with the thumb and forefinger on opposite 
sides, to allow the light to pass freely, as shown 
in the cut. Look through the egg at the* sun 
or a bright light. Turn it frequently ff the 
egg is fertile, you will see, on the fourth or 
fifth day, a formation similar to that shown 
in the accompanying cut, which is the first 
appearance of the chick. 

Price of Egg-Tester 50c. 



TIHIIE 

AMERICAN 



Standard of Excellence 



PBICB, $1.00. 



Address— R B. MITCHELL,, 

69 DEARBORN STREET, 

CHICAGO, 



IX*Ii. 



' THE PRACTICAL 

POULTRY KEEPER 



A COMPLETE AND STANDAKD GUIDE TO 

THE MANAGEMENT OF POULTRY, 

FOR DOMESTIC USE, THE MARKETS OR EXHIBITION. 

BEAUTIFUIiliY II>I>USTRATED, 

BY L. WRIGHT. 



COIsTTEITTS. 



SECTION I— The General Manage- 
ment of Domestic Poultry with, a 
View to Profit. 

Chap. I — Houses and Runs; and the Ap- 
pliances necessary to keeping Poultry 
with. Success. 

Chap. II— -On the System of Operations 
and the Selection of Stock. 

Chap. Ill— The Feeding and General Man- 
agement of Adult Fowls. 

Chap IV— Incubation 

Chap. V— The Rearing and Fattening of 
Chickens. 

Chap. VI— Diseases of Poultry. 

SECTION II— The Breeding and Ex- 
hibition of Prize Poultry. 

Chap. VII— Yards and Accommodation 
adapted for Breeding Prize Poultry. 

Chap. VIII— On the Scientific Principles 
of Breeding, and the Effects of Crossing. 

Chap. IX— On the Practical Selection and 
Care of Breeding Stock, and the Rearing 
of Chickens for Exhibition. 

Chap. X— On "Condition," and the Pre- 
paration of Fowls for Exhibition: and 
various other matters connected with 
Shows. 

SECTION III— Different Breeds of 
Fowls ; Their Characteristic Points, 
with Comparison of their Merits 
and Principal Defects. 



Chap. XI.— Cochin Chinas or Shanghaes. 

Chap. XII— Brahma Pootras. 

Chap. XIII— Malays. 

Chap. XIV— Game. 

Chap. XV— Dorkings. 

Chap. XVI— Spanish. 

Chap. XVII— Hamburgs. 

Chap. XVIII— Polands. 

Chap. XIX— French Breeds. 

Chap. XX — Bantams. 

Chap. XXI— The "Various" Class. 

SECTION IV— Turkeys, Ornamental 
Poultry, and Water-Fowl. 

Chap. XXII— Turkeys, Guinea-fowl, Pea- 
fowl. 

Chap. XXIII— Pheasants. 

Chap. XXIV— Water-fowl. 

SECTION V— The Hatching & Rear- 
ing of Chickens Artificially. 

Chap. XXV — The Incubator and Its Man- 
agement. 

Chap. XXVI— Rearing Chickens Artifici- 
ally. 

SECTION VI— The Breeding & Man- 
agement of Poultry upon a large 
scale. 



Chap. XXVII— Separate 
for Rearing Poultry. 
Farm, Conclusion. 



Establishments 
Poultry on the 



PRICE, POSTPAID, $2.00. 

B. 1£ITCHE 

69 DEARBORN ST., CHICAGO. 



Cholera is the worst Enemy the Poultryman 
has to contend with. 

OUR CHOLERA MEDICINE 

has now been before the public over three years, and has gained a reputa- 
tion worthy of it. During 1884 we have sent it all over the country, and 
we are constantly receiving letters speaking in the highest terms of its 
curative qualities, and saving their flocks from the ravages of this fatal 
disease. 

Prices— In 2- lb packages, prepaid, per lb 50c. In. 5-ft> packages, prepaid, per ft) 45c. 
In 10- ft> packages, prepaid, per ft 40c. 

POULTRY BOOKS.— For sale at Publishers' prices. Standard of 
Excellence, price $1. Pitkin on Plymouth Rocks, paper, 30c; Stod- 
dard's Egg Farm, paper, 50c; cloth, 75c. L. Wright on Poultry, $2. 

Remit the amount, and we will mail any one of the above books, postage 
prepaid. 

WILSON'S PATENT GRINDING MILLS. 

For the Poultryman. For the Farmer. For the Gardener. 
No. 1. HAND BONE MILL, for grinding Dried Bones, 
Oyster Shells and all kinds of Grain. 
"Priced wei ght 35 lbs., - - • $5.00. 

POULTRY SUPPLIES. 




To keep fowls at all times in the best condition, you need some of the following 
articles, which are kept for sale by The Poultry Kaiser Company, and promptly for- 
warded on receipt of price. All orders must be accompanied by the cash. If you order 
goods sent by freight, enclose 50 cents to pay cartage, otherwise they will be sent by 
express. We prepay charges on all mailable goods. Heavy articles by express unless 
ordered by freight. 

CRUSHED OYSTER SHELLS 
made from clean, fresh oyster shells, and is as good as can be produced. Twenty-five ft 
$1 ; 50 lb $1.75 ; 100 ft $2.50. If to go by freight, send 50 cents to pay cartage. 

RAW BONE MEAL, 

made from selected bones, and is very helpful to young as well as to old fowls, as it fur- 
nishes the material that nature requires as an aid to growth, and thus gives strength and 
stability to the skeleton of the bird, while it reduces the percentage of weak chicks. It 
should be mixed with the meal used in proportion of a tablespoonf ul to twenty fowls. 
10 ft 60 cts; 15 ft 90 cts; 25 ft $1.25; 50 ft $2; 100 ft $4. 

TAR FELT PAPER. 

This is the best article known for roofs and lining poultry-houses. It prevents ver- 
min and helps to make the fowls healthy • it increases the warmth of the house and pre- 
vents dampness. Put up in rolls of from 250 to 350 square feet, according to thickness. 
Price, $2 per roll. 

POULTRY JELLY. 

This is a preparation we have found to be a sure cure, if used in time, for scaly legs 
and frozen comb, and the articles that enter into its composition make it more efficient 
than the ordinary remedies. Price 50c, 

ROUP PILLS. 

If obstinate cases of roup appear among your fowls, these pills are what you want, 
and will cure in nearly all cases where cleanliness and care are observed. Fifty pills in 
a box, 50 cts ; 100 pills, 75 cts. 



NEST EGGS 
Sulphur carbolated, - 75c per dozen 

Porcelain, .... 60c per dozen 



EGG BASKETS. 

One or two sittings, - 90c per dozen 

Three to five sittings, - 1.00 per dozen 

Wilson's hand bone mills, $5." If to be sent as freight, add 50 cents for cartage. 

TESTED THEPMOMETEKS for incubators, everyone being tested before sent out. 

If you want a reliable thermometer, one on which you can depend, mail us one dollar 

and it will be mailed to you postage prepaid. 

CAPONIZING INSTRUMENTS— A fine set in a neat case for $3. 
EGG TESTER— The Japanese Egg Tester mailed to any address on receipt of price, 
50 cents. 

Address — 2R». 33. ZL/HITOIESTIT iT i, 69 Dearborn St, Chicago, ni. 



Poultry Architecture! 



How to Build Handsome and Convenient 



FOWL HOUSES 



DURABLY AND ECONOMICALLY. 



CONTAINS 



SEVENTY ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PRICE, 25 CENTS. 



Address— R. B. MITCHELL, 

69 DEARBORN STREET, 

CHICAGO, = ILL. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



002 856 671 2 



The Poultry kaiser. 



MONTHLY, 50 CENTS A YEAR 



R. B. MITCHELL, Editor and Proprietor, 

69 Dearborn Street, CHICAGO. 



THE POULTRY RAISER extends to you the right hand of fellow, 
ship, and wishes you to become a subscriber. 

THE POULTRY RAISER reaches more new Postoffices and mow 
new Breeders monthly than any other five Poultry Journals published. 

We make special rates to yearly advertisers, and will quote same to 
you on any amount of space yoa may desire. 

PLEASE BEAR IN MIND THE FOLLOWING FACTS : 

That we have the largest circulation of any Poultry Journal published. 

That advertising leads to inquiry, and inquiry leads to sales. 

That we reach over six thousand postoffices monthly. 

That if you advertise in our columns it will not take the profit of your 
whole farm to pay for the ad. 

That the POULTRY RAISER is the farmer's Special Organ on 
poultry. 

That to be successful in business you must let the public know what 
you have for sale. 

That our advertising patronage is increasing faster than in any other 
Poultry Journal in the world. 

East Winthrop, Maine, ll-SO-'^. 
Editor Poultry Raisek: 

* * I have kept the best poultry of various sorts for the past fortr 
years, and have never seen, in all the papers which I have taken and read, 
a paper that suited me as well as the Poultry Raiser. Success to the 
PvATSBR, and long may it continue. 

MRS. M. THERESA SANSON. 

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



002 856 671 2 




